Elizabeth Drakes's Site

Fantasy Romance

enemies to lovers

Rise of the Dusk Dragon is Here!

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Rise of the Dusk Dragon is out and available!

And to celebrate, Rise of the Dawn Dragon is currently $0.99!

Book 2 in the Dragon King Trilogy

Rise of the Dusk Dragon

He was the best archer in the land, but even he didn’t know one shot could change everything.

A war. A frozen mountain pass. An enemy supply caravan. Prince Thomas wanted to end the war and bring peace to his people. No matter what it took. Even if it meant bringing the enemy’s mountains down on them. But Prince Thomas should have killed the enemy mage that survived. Or left her to freeze to death on the side of the mountain. He shouldn’t have rescued her.

And he definitely shouldn’t like how good she feels in his arms.

Mage Claudia Whitecliff didn’t expect the avalanche or the attractive stranger that rescued her. Nor did she expect to like the way the stranger’s arms feel around her. And she definitely never expected to want a stranger to kiss her so much.

Especially when she learns that stranger is her kingdom’s greatest enemy.

Prince Thomas and Claudia are trapped together in a cozy lodge under a mountain of snow. It’s hard to stay enemies when they both want something more, something forbidden, but something that could pave the way to peace.

But the dark forces that conspired to keep their people at war are closing in on them. Together, Prince Thomas and Claudia can usher in an era of lasting peace for their people. But only if they’ll let themselves love their enemy before those that want war destroy them and their people’s first chance at peace in a thousand years.

First Book in the Dragon King Trilogy

Rise of the Dawn Dragon

He’d do anything to save his people. Even make her his queen.

High Prince Rohan faces war with his northern neighbor, a necromancer’s taint on his lands, and growing civil unrest. He needs the gods to send his bride so he can become king, unite his people, and legitimize his rule. A bride they have sent for every previous high prince. Rohan will marry any woman They send. Even one that wears the armor of his enemy. Even one that rejects him. After all, he never expected to love her.

As a Knight of Valor blessed by the gods Themselves, Makayla has given up everything for Them. Even love. She thought she was ready for anything They asked of her. Until a magical accident finds her in a foreign kingdom deprived of the gods’ light and married to its new king without ever having said “I do”.

But the sham marriage to a man she refuses to fall in love with is the least of her worries.

An ancient evil followed her, an evil that stalks the land and threatens to destroy everything in its path. It will take more than either of them can do alone to stop it. Together, they might just be strong enough, but only if they can accept the gods’ greatest gift: love.

Cover Reveal: Rise of the Dusk Dragon

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Coming in January!

I am super excited to share the cover with you for the second book in the Dragon King Trilogy. It is also standalone, and, as always, the happily-ever-after is guaranteed.

He was the best archer in the land, but even he didn’t know one shot could change everything.

A war. A frozen mountain pass. An enemy supply caravan. Prince Thomas wanted to end the war and bring peace to his people. No matter what it took. Even if it meant bringing the enemy’s mountains down on them. But Prince Thomas should have killed the enemy mage that survived. Or left her to freeze to death on the side of the mountain. He shouldn’t have rescued her.

And he definitely shouldn’t like how good she feels in his arms.

Mage Claudia Whitecliff didn’t expect the avalanche or the attractive stranger that rescued her. Nor did she expect to like the way the stranger’s arms feel around her. And she definitely never expected to want a stranger to kiss her so much.

Especially when she learns that stranger is her kingdom’s greatest enemy.

Prince Thomas and Claudia are trapped together in a cozy lodge under a mountain of snow. It’s hard to stay enemies when they both want something more, something forbidden, but something that could pave the way to peace.

But the dark forces that conspired to keep their people at war are closing in on them. Together, Prince Thomas and Claudia can usher in an era of lasting peace for their people. But only if they’ll let themselves love their enemy before those that want war destroy them and their people’s first chance at peace in a thousand years.

Serial Micro Fiction: Enemy Lines

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The pieces of wood that had seemed so foolish strapped to his feet in the throne room were a boon on the endless expanses of unbroken snow.

But Prince Thomas didn’t mention it, nor did the two shadow warriors he traveled with.

For the best. They had all crossed enemy lines three moons ago, and Prince Thomas had no idea when or if he would see his home again.

Micro Fiction: Abomination

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elysiaoutsideoftown (1)

Lorik studied the hunchback as she mounted her massive white charger easily even in her full armor.

Despite the oppressive heat, she stayed bundled in her cloak.

As civilization fell behind them, the old man nodded toward her. “You must be hot, and we are well past where others can see you.”

She paused then sighed. “He might as well know the truth sooner than later.”

“What truth…” Lorik’s jaw fell open as she shrugged off the cloak and revealed a pair of fluffy white wings.

“That I am a half-breed abomination. But I’m still going to destroy Thorn.”

Soul Mates?

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Soul mates. The person that completes you, that is your other half. This person is more than true love. This is the person that literally shares a piece of your soul.

You’re drawn together even if you hate each other. Your souls will find a way to reunite…

Sorry, I don’t buy it.

If, for some chance you do have one true soul mate, how are you going to find them among the over seven billion people in this world?

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I suppose you could say the halves of the soul are somehow attracted to each other, but what are the chances you’ll speak the same language? Have been brought up in the same culture?

I’m a romance writer, and I read a lot of the genre. While I’ve seen soul mates used a lot, it almost never explained how it works. Was a soul ripped in half so each character only has half a soul (might explain a few people I know)? Are they like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle? Or maybe mirror images of each other?

I can’t think of a single time an author used soul mates and I didn’t think they were mailing it in by relying on this to bring togtether characters that had no other reason to be together.

It’s like the author chased the characters up a tree, and then along came a handy-dandy zeppelin to get them down.

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Hi!  I just happened to be in the area.

Given my preferences, if I read that the main characters are soul mates in the book blurb, I don’t buy it. If I find it out they’re soul mates later in the story itself, I tend not to finish the book as I usually can’t stop rolling my eyes. After the eighth or ninth eye roll, I’m worried they’re going to get stuck in my skull and decide it’s time to put away the offending book.

Yes, I love romance, and I love happily ever afters, but the characters have to earn it. It’s part of what makes the endings so delicious.

If the story has enemies become lovers, I can buy that. Seen it often enough in real life.

But if the story wants enemies to fall in love with each other? That’s tougher, but put them through a strong enough crucible in the story, and I can buy it. I want to buy it. I like reading romances. I want the characters to get together. But I also want to believe it.

Tell me they overcome their hate for each other because they’re soul mates? I’ll smile politely and slide that book over to the “don’t waste my precious reading time” pile.

Authors can bring together difficult characters, even characters that might strongly dislike each other at first. We believe the change in how they feel about each other through repeated interactions between the characters, with them learning through these interactions that they’d misjudged the other.

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If they haven’t misjudged the other, than we need the characters to change and realize why their preconceived notion was wrong. And it has to more than, “oh, but I love this person, so clearly I was wrong all this time.”

The more you want the change, the more the plot has to challenge them.

Social Identity Theory tells me it’s not going to happen easily. The bigger the change, the harder it’s going to be to make it happen.

You see the enemies (or at least adversaries) become lovers a lot in television, especially when the writers have multiple seasons to build the romance.

Most romance novels don’t have multiple seasons, but it’s still doable in a single book. After all, in a romance novel, the whole point of the plot is to get the characters together. Yes, it’s possible, and most of us can think of some characters that we loved seeing get together even though they were ready to kill each other at the beginning of their relationship.

Done right, it makes an amazing an unforgettable romance. Done wrong, and an author has to tell me the characters get together because they’re soul mates and just can’t live without each other.

*eye roll*

 

How about you? Do you believe in soul mates? If so, why? I’m open to changing my mind! Have you ever read a soul mates story that was very well done? What made it good?